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The Bundesverwaltungsgericht (BVerwG), which is the Federal Republic of Germany's supreme administrative court, decided that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has to prove the conformity of parts of the domestic asylum law with Article 11 (1) Qualification Directive.

Article 11(1)(e) establishes that a third country national or a stateless person shall cease to be a refugee, if he or she “can no longer, because the circumstances in connection with which he or she has been recognised as a refugee have ceased to exist, continue to refuse to avail himself or herself of the protection of the country of nationality”.

The question was referred to the ECJ in relation with three cases involving Iraqi nationals. The applicants had been recognised as refugees in Germany but had been deprived of the refugee status in 2005 consequently to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The Court considered in this respect that the reasons to fear persecution had ceased to exist and there were no indications of the extistence of other reasons leading to a well-founded fear of persecution.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has asked the ECJ to clarify if the withdrawal of refugee status is possible in case the reasons for granting it have ceased to exist and in case the applicants, if returned to their home country, would not fear persecution for other reasons. The Federal Administrative Court also wants the ECJ to clarify which situation needs to be in place in the country of orgin to ensure adequate protection for the applicants so to allow the withdrawal of the refugee status.

The Immigration Act, which is essentially made up of the Residence Act (AufenthG) and the Act on the General Freedom of Movement for EU Citizens (Freedom of Movement Act/EU), went into force on 1 January 2005. The Immigration Act has thoroughly reformed Germany’s foreigner law. Through the Immigration Act a number of other laws (such as the Asylum Procedure Act, the Act on the Central Aliens Register, the Nationality Act) have also been amended. The Act to Implement Residence- and Asylum-Related Directives of the European Union (EU-Directives Implementation Act), which went into force on 28 August 2007, has once again amended these acts.

The package that the Council adopted consists of a Directive which sets out a specific procedure for admitting third country nationals for the purposes of scientific research, and a Recommendation addressed to Member States with a view to facilitating the admission of researchers from third countries. A further recommendation aimed at facilitating the issuing of visas was adopted already in September.

GENEVA, June 30 (UNHCR)  The exodus of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese from their country in flimsy boats during the 1970s and 1980s focused world attention on the plight of so-called "boat people" for the first time. More than two decades later people are still fleeing their countries to escape violence, persecution or poverty and making perilous ocean journeys in a bid to reach sanctuary and a better life overseas. Many never make it, while a few lucky ones are rescued by passing ships  mainly merchant vessels.

NEW YORK  On 6 June 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan presented the report on migration and development which will be the starting point of the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development on 14 and 15 September. Find here Kofi Anans address to the UN General Assembly:

LONDON  The return of illegal migrants is a topic never far from the headlines. This is a problem which, to a greater or lesser extent, affects all Member States of the EU. In this report the a parliamentary commission of the British parliament looks at an EU initiative for dealing with it.

How important is selection? Experimental versus non-experimental measures of the income gains from migration

WASHINGTON - Measuring the gain in income from migration is complicated by non-random selection of migrants from the general population, making it difficult to obtain an appropriate comparison group of non-migrants. A recent research paper by the World Bank analyses methodes and results.